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Top 20 Networking SDKs Used in iOS Apps on the Apple App Store
Last update: 13 Sep 2025 CET
App Store

Top 20 Networking SDKs Used in iOS Apps on the Apple App Store

We at 42matters have identified the 20 most popular Networking SDKs leveraged by iOS apps available on the iOS app market.

Networking SDKs are developer tools that provide networking functionalities for mobile apps. They enable developers to build apps capable of communicating with servers or other devices over a network, without having to build these capabilities from scratch. Network SDKs typically facilitate network requests, response handling, authentication, and more.

This list is based on our analysis of the millions of mobile applications – and the 2,300+ SDKs they use – that constitute the vast inventory of the Apple App Store. The accompanying data provides readers with a glimpse into the rich mobile application insights generated by the 42matters technology. This data is also available via our APIs, file dumps, Explorer, and SDK Explorer.

The intended purpose of this article is to assist app builders in their search for the perfect Networking SDK to leverage in their app, as well as to give SDK developers insight into their biggest competitors and potential customers. This data collected by our technology may also serve as a useful tool for folks researching the wider mobile app market.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 60.11% have integrated Nanopb. This accounts for 40.24% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Total Apps
491.36k
App Store
App Share
60.11%
App Store
Apps
463.15k
Games
28.21k
Total Downloads
112.06b
App Store
Download Share
40.24%
App Store
App Downloads
80.89b
Game Downloads
31.17b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Nanopb.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 19.59% have integrated Alamofire. This accounts for 17.99% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Alamofire is an HTTP networking library SDK written in Swift.

Total Apps
160.13k
App Store
App Share
19.59%
App Store
Apps
158.66k
Games
1.47k
Total Downloads
50.10b
App Store
Download Share
17.99%
App Store
App Downloads
45.83b
Game Downloads
4.27b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Alamofire.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 16.76% have integrated SocketRocket. This accounts for 13.19% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

SocketRocket is an SDK that offers a conforming Objective-C WebSocket client library.

Total Apps
136.99k
App Store
App Share
16.76%
App Store
Apps
135.29k
Games
1.69k
Total Downloads
36.72b
App Store
Download Share
13.19%
App Store
App Downloads
34.04b
Game Downloads
2.69b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use SocketRocket.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 15.50% have integrated AFNetworking. This accounts for 23.23% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

AFNetworking is a delightful networking library SDK for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It's built on top of the Foundation URL Loading System, extending the powerful high-level networking abstractions built into Cocoa. It has a modular architecture with well-designed, feature-rich APIs that are a joy to use.

Total Apps
126.73k
App Store
App Share
15.50%
App Store
Apps
119.27k
Games
7.46k
Total Downloads
64.68b
App Store
Download Share
23.23%
App Store
App Downloads
56.14b
Game Downloads
8.54b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use AFNetworking.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 12.19% have integrated gRPC. This accounts for 22.89% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

gRPC is a modern open source, high-performance RPC framework SDK that can run in any environment. It can efficiently connect services in and across data centers with pluggable support for load balancing, tracing, health checking, and authentication.

Total Apps
99.68k
App Store
App Share
12.19%
App Store
Apps
95.33k
Games
4.35k
Total Downloads
63.73b
App Store
Download Share
22.89%
App Store
App Downloads
59.20b
Game Downloads
4.53b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use gRPC.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 8.01% have integrated Kingfisher. This accounts for 9.31% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Kingfisher is a powerful, pure-Swift library SDK for downloading and caching images from the web. It provides you a chance to use a pure-Swift way to work with remote images in your next app.

Total Apps
65.52k
App Store
App Share
8.01%
App Store
Apps
65.06k
Games
459
Total Downloads
25.92b
App Store
Download Share
9.31%
App Store
App Downloads
23.29b
Game Downloads
2.64b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Kingfisher.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 4.29% have integrated Starscream. This accounts for 6.72% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

The Starscream SDK is a conforming WebSocket (RFC 6455) library in Swift.

Total Apps
35.11k
App Store
App Share
4.29%
App Store
Apps
34.75k
Games
356
Total Downloads
18.73b
App Store
Download Share
6.72%
App Store
App Downloads
18.17b
Game Downloads
552.46m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Starscream.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 2.91% have integrated AlamofireImage. This accounts for 1.97% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

AlamofireImage is an image component library SDK for Alamofire.

Total Apps
23.82k
App Store
App Share
2.91%
App Store
Apps
23.70k
Games
122
Total Downloads
5.49b
App Store
Download Share
1.97%
App Store
App Downloads
5.37b
Game Downloads
117.37m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use AlamofireImage.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 2.44% have integrated WebRTC. This accounts for 9.04% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

With WebRTC, you can add real-time communication capabilities to your mobile apps. It supports sending videos, voice, and generic data between peers, allowing developers to build powerful voice- and video-communication solutions.

Total Apps
19.95k
App Store
App Share
2.44%
App Store
Apps
19.82k
Games
125
Total Downloads
25.18b
App Store
Download Share
9.04%
App Store
App Downloads
25.02b
Game Downloads
155.42m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use WebRTC.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 2.19% have integrated Moya. This accounts for 4.27% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

The Moya SDK is a network abstraction layer written in Swift.

Total Apps
17.87k
App Store
App Share
2.19%
App Store
Apps
17.48k
Games
389
Total Downloads
11.89b
App Store
Download Share
4.27%
App Store
App Downloads
9.01b
Game Downloads
2.88b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Moya.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 1.93% have integrated CocoaAsyncSocket. This accounts for 3.00% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

The CocoaAsyncSocket SDK provides easy-to-use and powerful asynchronous socket libraries for macOS, iOS, and tvOS.

Total Apps
15.82k
App Store
App Share
1.93%
App Store
Apps
15.66k
Games
158
Total Downloads
8.34b
App Store
Download Share
3.00%
App Store
App Downloads
8.26b
Game Downloads
77.99m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use CocoaAsyncSocket.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 1.60% have integrated Socket.io. This accounts for 1.35% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Socket.IO is an SDK that enables real-time, bidirectional and event-based communication. It works on every platform, browser or device, focusing equally on reliability and speed.

Total Apps
13.11k
App Store
App Share
1.60%
App Store
Apps
12.96k
Games
146
Total Downloads
3.77b
App Store
Download Share
1.35%
App Store
App Downloads
3.40b
Game Downloads
363.93m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Socket.io.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 1.57% have integrated ASIHTTPRequest. This accounts for 2.48% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

ASIHTTPRequest is an easy to use wrapper SDK around the CFNetwork API that makes some of the more tedious aspects of communicating with web servers easier. It is written in Objective-C and works in both Mac OS X and iPhone applications.

Total Apps
12.87k
App Store
App Share
1.57%
App Store
Apps
11.24k
Games
1.63k
Total Downloads
6.90b
App Store
Download Share
2.48%
App Store
App Downloads
5.26b
Game Downloads
1.63b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use ASIHTTPRequest.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated AlamofireObjectMapper. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

The AlamofireObjectMapper SDK is an extension to Alamofire which automatically converts JSON response data into swift objects using ObjectMapper.

Total Apps
8.11k
App Store
App Share
<1%
App Store
Apps
8.08k
Games
29
Total Downloads
1.65b
App Store
Download Share
<1%
App Store
App Downloads
1.64b
Game Downloads
8.01m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use AlamofireObjectMapper.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated PINRemoteImage. This accounts for 1.48% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

PINRemoteImage is an SDK that offers a fast, non-deadlocking parallel image downloader and cache for iOS.

Total Apps
7.81k
App Store
App Share
<1%
App Store
Apps
7.79k
Games
20
Total Downloads
4.12b
App Store
Download Share
1.48%
App Store
App Downloads
4.11b
Game Downloads
12.87m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use PINRemoteImage.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated Google APIs for Objective-C for REST. This accounts for 6.58% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Total Apps
5.40k
App Store
App Share
<1%
App Store
Apps
5.31k
Games
94
Total Downloads
18.31b
App Store
Download Share
6.58%
App Store
App Downloads
18.15b
Game Downloads
161.76m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Google APIs for Objective-C for REST.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated AlamofireNetworkActivityIndicator. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

The AlamofireNetworkActivityIndicator SDK controls the visibility of the network activity indicator on iOS apps.

Total Apps
3.28k
App Store
App Share
<1%
App Store
Apps
3.27k
Games
8
Total Downloads
1.20b
App Store
Download Share
<1%
App Store
App Downloads
1.20b
Game Downloads
2.65m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use AlamofireNetworkActivityIndicator.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated CXML. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

CXML is a streamlined protocol SDK intended for consistent communication of business documents between procurement applications, e-commerce hubs, and suppliers.

Total Apps
2.85k
App Store
App Share
<1%
App Store
Apps
2.73k
Games
123
Total Downloads
785.91m
App Store
Download Share
<1%
App Store
App Downloads
712.97m
Game Downloads
72.94m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use CXML.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated MQTT-Client-Framework. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

The MQTT-Client-Framework SDK is a native Objective-C iOS library. It uses CFNetwork for networking and CoreData for persistence. It is a complete implementation of MQTT 3.1.1 and supports TLS.

Total Apps
2.83k
App Store
App Share
<1%
App Store
Apps
2.70k
Games
128
Total Downloads
2.56b
App Store
Download Share
<1%
App Store
App Downloads
2.30b
Game Downloads
259.87m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use MQTT-Client-Framework.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated JLRoutes. This accounts for 2.02% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

JLRoutes is a URL routing library SDK with a simple block-based API. It simplifies handling complex URL schemes in your application with minimal code.

Total Apps
2.26k
App Store
App Share
<1%
App Store
Apps
2.25k
Games
7
Total Downloads
5.64b
App Store
Download Share
2.02%
App Store
App Downloads
5.58b
Game Downloads
51.76m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use JLRoutes.

Browse iOS and Android SDKs With the SDK Explorer

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    See how many apps integrate specific SDKs, how many times these SDKs have been downloaded, developer details, similar SDKs, and more.

  • New Installations and Removals HistoryNew Installations and Removals History

    Analyze installation and removal trends for SDKs. Discover which apps have removed or integrated specific SDKs in a given timeframe.

  • Market Share per Google Play and Apple App Store CategoryMarket Share per Google Play and Apple App Store Category

    See which app categories or genres are most likely to use specific SDKs. Detect SDK market share per category.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How does 42matters collect this data?'

We’ve developed a number of machine learning algorithms that scan millions of mobile and connected TV (CTV) applications on a regular basis. In addition, we collect ground truth app performance intelligence and use this data to build statistical models that estimate the performance of apps for which we do not have ground truth data.

What SDK data does 42matters collect?'

We track over 2,300 of the most popular SDKs integrated in iOS and Android apps. We collect a variety of SDK insights (title, platform, ID, category, and developer website); performance metrics (the number of apps that have installed each SDK, installation and removal trends, and app downloads); market share statistics (including market share per app category); and more!

How can I access 42matters’ SDK data?'

The most direct way is to use our SDK Explorer, which is a visual, web-based research platform that enables you to peruse all 2,300+ SDKs that we track. It’s great for market research, lead generation, competitor analysis, etc. However, more technically-inclined folks might prefer our APIs and File Dumps, which enable you to query info for specific apps or SDKs. You can also use our other research platform (the Explorer) to view integrated SDKs by app.

Can I use 42matters’ solutions to generate app publisher leads?'

Absolutely! We actually wrote about this on our blog. We focused on ad network SDKs, but the examples are applicable to most SDK types. To summarize, you can use the Explorer’s advanced filtering capabilities to home in on best-fit app publishers, leverage the SDK Explorer to see which apps use your competitors’ SDKs, and use our APIs and file dumps to build custom lead generation processes.

What data does 42matters provide on mobile apps?'

A ton! We track 17+ million apps across Google Play, the Apple App Store, Amazon Appstore, Tencent Appstore, and Huawei AppGallery. Our solutions provide access to app details (developer insights, metadata, ASO keywords, contact information, etc.); performance metrics (downloads, MAUs, ratings, reviews, top chart rankings, etc.); technical insights (integrated SDKs, permissions, required capabilities, etc.); content details (categories, genres, IAB categories, content ratings, etc.); compliance information (app-ads.txt, privacy policies, store status, etc.) and much, much more!

Can I use 42matters’ solutions to find SDKs for my app?'

Definitely. The SDK Explorer enables you to sort SDKs by category, identify similar SDKs, analyze SDK reliability, and more. In addition, you can use the Explorer to monitor your competitors, including which SDKs they add and remove, their current tech stacks, and SDK changelogs. This means you use our solutions not only to find the right SDK for a particular purpose, but also which SDKs you might need to keep up with your rivals.